Umar Salama

Umar Salama (13 June 1940-20 October 1991) was a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader.

Biography
Umar Salama was born in Jenin, Mandatory Palestine (present-day West Bank, Palestine) to a Sunni Muslim family. Salama's family was forced to flee from their home in 1948 during the Israeli War of Independence, and they moved to Jordan first, and then Egypt. Salama studied at al-Azhar University, where he joined Fatah in 1959. In 1965, he became a member of its political party, which evolved into the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Salama gained his doctorate in engineering in 1973, and he was made a representative of the PLO in Greece. Salama was an intelligent man, and was revered by those who worked with him. In 1985 he became a Professor of Engineering after studying some more, and he remained in Athens to continue work with the Greek government.

On 20 October 1991, Salama was assassinated by eleven shots to the body from Beretta .22 caliber pistols fired by two men dressed in dark clothing while he was leaving a meeting with Greek officials regarding his attempts to gain Greek citizenship. Salama's death was blamed on Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, which believed him to have played a role in helping in the August 1973 Ellinikon International Airport massacre.